Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas and, more specifically but not exclusively, to radomes for reflector antennas.
Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
Radomes are typically applied to the open end of reflector antennas to reduce wind load, improve antenna aesthetics, and/or seal/protect the feed assembly and/or reflector dish surfaces.
Prior radomes include rigid or semi-rigid dielectric polymer covers and flexible fabric covers held in tension across the open end of the reflector dish, for example, by a cord lattice and/or a plurality of springs. Rigid and semi-rigid polymer cover-type radomes may be expensive to manufacture and have a minimum dimension of the reflector dish opening which may be too large for cost-efficient transport. Flexible fabric radomes may be labor intensive to install and/or later remove to permit access to the reflector dish opening.